This post is an overview of common life at Residence Batelière.

The Room

I have already shown pictures of my empty room at Batelière in a previous story.

Revelant things from that post were:

Rent is 418 €
Studio Rooms are 18 square meters (bigger than most other residences)

Inside the Residence Batelière

The Residence Batelière has capacity for around 250-300 students in four floors, following the European scheme, there is a 0-th floor (the ground floor) and four floors on top of it.

Technically, the Residence is in the Maxéville district of the city, but it is just two blocks away from the city center border.

The official address is:

7 à 15 Route de Metz 
54320 Maxéville

However in Google Maps you will find it under 7-15 Rue de Metz, 54320 Maxéville.

Entrances

The main entrance can only be opened by the staff at the reception or with a student card. Student cards from students from other residences won’t work.

There is also a back door, which can be opened only with a room key. This door is normaly used by

students who have not yet received their student card
students in bikes

For bikes

After entering through the back door, there are two places to leave it:

The bike cage, which can only be opened with a room key

Bike parking in the backyard

The backyard

When it is not cold outside, the backyard is a nice place in the back of the residence for hanging out, having a picnic, having a cigarrette, and chilling in general.

The reception, mail and packages

The residence’s reception is on the ground floor, just to the left of the main entrance. Here’s where one pays the rent.

Just next to the reception one can find the mailboxes. Getting packages that cannot fit into the mailboxes can be problematic. Medium and big-sized packages may be accepted or rejected at the reception, depending on who is there when the mailman arrives. If they accept the package at the reception, the staff usually sends you a message to pick it up ASAP. If they reject the package, it is usually sent back.

Because of this, I have found more convenient to send medium and big-sized packages to pick-up locations (there is a lot of them around Nancy: Amazon lockers, some tabacs, post offices, etc.)

Elevator

When I arrived the elevator was out of service for three weeks. However, after it was repaired, it has been working fine for months.

Laundry room

One can only enter the laundry room with a room key. There are two washing machines and two dries, which is not enough!

The washing cycle usually lasts 40 minutes and the drying cycle 60 minutes, which leads to long lines during popular times (like Saturday afternoon, all of Sunday). It is better to find a whole in your schedule and use it for doing laundry.

Payment is done by credit card (even non-European cards work!) or by student card. Payment by student card needs IZLY, an app for loading your student card with money, that I will explain in a future post.

The price for the washing cycle is 3.20 € with credit card and 3.00 € with student card, and for the drying cycle is 1.00 €.

There are also free pads and tampons in the laundry room:

Note: In the middle of the Winter semester, one of the driers broke. This caused long queues, and it took the administration 3 months to repair it!

Trash room

The smell is pretty bad. It is not mandatory to segregate the garbage.

Common room

Due to COVID restrictions, the common room was closed during all the time I was here.

Noise hours

Noise is not allowed after 10pm. In my experience, as long as it is not loud music or thumping, they will turn a blind eye. Either way, be empathic, there are other students around!

Repairs

If something breaks or stops working in your room, it is really easy (and free!) to ask for repairs. One has to fill a form in a website from the CROUS Lorraine. Normally it takes 3 to 5 days for a handyman to come, though sometimes he can arrive in 1 day. In the form, you can give your consent so that the handyman can come into your room even if you are not there.

Close to the Residence Batelière

Other than the IDMC (see map just below), the Residence Batelière is decently close to most things one could need.

Supermarkets

For this subsection I will copy and paste information I have mentioned in a previous post.

There are a couple of supermarkets within reasonable distance of Residence Bateliêre.

Lidl is a European supermarket chain know for its very low prices, and luckily, there is one very close to the Residence Batelière, just two blocks away:

They don’t have much variety, but the prices are good and you can find there most of the basic stuff.

Plus, that specific Lidl close to Batelière is one of the few supermarkets that opens on Sunday (until midday)!

Carrefour is a French supermarket chain, they have more variety than Lidl but their prices are a little higher (not crazy high though).

There is one Carrefour about four blocks away from Residence Bateliêre:

Finally, there is an ALDI, another European supermarket brand with cheap prices, about ten blocks away from the residence.

Since their products are basically the same as those in Lidl, I never buy at that ALDI.

Bus stops

There is a bus stop just in front of the Residence. However, the lines passing by this bus stop are not that well connected.

There is a bus stop for bus route T2 (one of the main bus routes in Nancy) a 10 minute walk from the residence.

Note that the routes shown by Google Maps are longer! (maybe it is incomplete?)

bus stop in the direction towards the city center: Stop “Montée de Pinchard”

bus stop in the direction away from the city center: Stop “Jean L’Amour”

Note that the road to get to this bus stop is steep, it is tiresome the first weeks, but one gets used to it.

To get to this bus stop one goes through Le Grand Sauvoy, a rehabilitation center and solidary shelter for people in difficult life circumstances. Don’t let the stereotypes win! You may see some people that look sketchy or shady from time to time, but don’t worry, it is safe at all times to walk through for both men and women.

Banks

There are a couple of banks close to the residence, in a zone called Trois Maisons (three houses):

BNP Parivas
Crédit Agricole
Caisse d’Epargne
Crédit Mutuel
CIC

The canal

A really nice place to take a walk, run, or bike. It goes through the whole city. If you are lucky, you will get to see ducks and swans chilling in the canal.

CROUS Leopold (student restaurant)

This is the student restaurant closest to both Residence Batelière and the IDMC. One pays by credit card, by student card, or with the IZLY app (to be explained in a future post).

Kebab stores

In Northern Europe, Turkish and Arabic fast food is cheap and easy to find. There are a couple of Kebab/Shawerma spots close to Residence Batelière.

Note that by “cheap” I mean around 7 € for each meal.

Just search “kebab” in Google Maps and you will find a bunch of them in the city. Around four kebab shops are within walking distance (< 20 min.) from Batelière.

Pharmacies

There is a pharmacy in front of the Lidl, and another one in front of the T2 bus stop Jean L’Amour.

Train noise

There are train tracks behind the residence. Most of them are far away enough, but there is a side of the residence which is close to them. In this part of the building, there’s train noise all day long, try to avoid it!

Things not close to the Residence

Places that are not within short walking distance of the Residence:

no other restaurants
no bars
no big parks
no good gyms